Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RILEY
Iwoke up to an empty bed. I slid my hands over the sheets to find them cold. Last night was out of character for me. I never did anything to get myself in trouble or have others look at me with anything less than respect.
Now, I was in bed with the enemy.
I checked my phone for messages to find none. In two days, my mom should be home, and if she wasn't... I tried not to think of it.
I slid out of bed and went to the bathroom before wandering into the hall. I could hear the television downstairs and hushed voices. The smell of food made my stomach grumble, and I took a calm breath and went to face the music.
Last night they were too nice to me since I had scared myself half to death. Today, I probably wouldn't be so lucky.
"We have to tell him-" Blake's voice cut off abruptly when I got to the bottom of the stairs. "Good morning."
I gave him a small smile and approached with caution. Blake was cooking at the stove, Morgan was sipping coffee, and Jax was sitting on the couch.
"You eat meat, right?" He flipped bacon and didn't flinch as it popped.
"Yes." I stood next to the island. "You know you can cook bacon in the oven and it won't pop you? If you line the baking sheet with foil, it's super easy to clean up."
Blake looked over his shoulder at me. "It doesn't taste the same."
"Do you want coffee?" Morgan took another drink. "I make a mean cup of espresso if you're into that."
"No, thanks." I looked over my shoulder at Jax who was glued to the television and I could see why. It was about the oil spill.
Out of the three of them, Jax was the most confusing. They all had a bad side to them, but Jax was the worst and was the most at odds with it. He had bigger mood swings than a pregnant woman.
I moved to the couch and sat down a seat away from him. He was in a pair of basketball shorts, similar to the pair he had on the night before, and no shirt. Even sitting he didn't seem to have an ounce of fat on him.
None of them appeared to have any body hair either, besides the hair on their heads. Jax and Blake both wore theirs shaved close to their scalps, while Morgan kept his short on the sides and longer on top.
"As you can see behind me, efforts are underway to save a pod of dolphins that swam through an uncontained patch of oil.
Great progress has been made containing and eliminating the patches, but with such a wide area being affected, there are bound to be scenes just like this for months and possibly years to come. "
The image cut from the reporter standing in front of a facility, to a group of men and women in the water with a pod of dolphins. The dolphins' eyes looked pained as they were cared for by the rescue workers.
Jax sniffled a few times and I peeked over at him. Tears ran down his face. My heart clenched and I scooted next to him, taking his hand in mine. There was a fifty-fifty chance he'd react negatively.
"Your father did this." His voice was flat and I gulped the sudden emotion that welled up inside my throat. "He knew it wasn't safe to put an oil platform in that location and did it anyway. He went against protestors and used his money to get past the red tape."
I put my head against his shoulder and watched as the news showed oil being burned on the surface of the water. They were trying multiple ways to get rid of the oil, but with constantly moving water, the weather, and the sheer volume of the oil spill, it was difficult.
"I don't know my father." I whispered. "He hasn't responded to my emails or my calls. I don't know what else you want me to do."
"Try harder." He let go of my hand and stood, the switch being flipped and the glare back. He swiped at his cheeks. "I'm taking you home."
"Let's eat breakfast first." Morgan gave Jax a warning look.
Jax sat back down as I stood, crossing his arms. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."
"Awesome. More for us." Blake set a tray on the dining room table that was right next to the floor to ceiling windows. "Let's eat."
I looked down at Jax and then went and sat at the table. Blake had made scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits, and cut fruit.
"This is a nice spread." I served myself and looked out the big windows that look out to the ocean. "Aren't you scared the cliff might collapse?"
Morgan snorted and bit into a biscuit. A few crumbs were still on his chin, and I wanted to lean over and brush them off. There was an odd compulsion to touch them and let them touch me when I was near them. It was like I was possessed.
"It's reinforced with steel. This baby isn't going anywhere in the next century." Morgan pointed his fork at me. "And all the windows have storm shutters."
I had so many questions. Once I finished chewing, I decided to ask since they were being pleasant. "Where are your parents?"
They looked at each other and Blake answered for them both. "They work for the same corporation, Trident Industries. Our great, great grandparents founded this town."
I'd heard the name thrown around, but never paid much mind to what they did. It seemed everything with these three had to do with tridents. Even our school mascot, a shark, held a trident.
"But you haven't lived here all your life, have you?" I wracked my brain trying to remember them from elementary and middle school. There were two of each which filtered into the only high school. "You must have gone to North Cove Elementary."
"We were homeschooled." Jax pulled the chair out at the end of the table and Blake slid him the tray of food to make his plate. "We're too advanced to deal with elementary and junior high bullshit."
I tensed as he stared at me. Morgan chuckled. "He doesn't bite... unless you ask him nicely."
My face flamed and I busied myself eating instead of talking. The food was good and I wondered what else Blake could cook, and if the other two could as well.
Blake cleared his throat. "I'll take you home once you're finished. Morgan dried your clothes."
"Or you can just take those and give them back to me at school." Morgan put his napkin and fork on his plate. "If you want."
"I'll take her home." Jax had only eaten half his food but stood. "Let's go."
Blake and Morgan made no protest. Jax was definitely the leader of their trio.
I followed him and he handed me a paper bag with my clothes in it. "My shoes are in your garage."
"Of course they are." I followed him out to his car and he opened the back. "You'll sit back here."
"What?" I was still strapping my sandals on as he got in the driver's seat.
I heard the locks click and went to the passenger side, trying to open it. He opened the garage door and then looked at me. "Get in the back."
My eyes stung for a moment, but I complied and climbed in, the door shutting me into the back area. Instead of laying this time, I looked over the seat at him.
"Why are you such a moody ass?" I put the bag of clothes on the seat in front of me and his eyes went to it as he pulled out of the garage.
Their house was fairly large and modern looking. It was a bigger property than I expected. We stopped at a gate and waited for it to slide open.
I hitched a leg over the back of the seat, ready to climb into an actual seat.
"Don't even think about climbing over that seat or I'll make you walk home."
"Might be worth it." I muttered before sitting back down.
We were about ten minutes from the community of townhouses I lived in judging by what I saw out the window. Now I knew how he had gotten home so fast after being inside my house.
"Do you have the security guards and police in your pocket?"
"What is this, the mafia?" I could almost hear him roll his eyes.
"I don't know, is it?" I opened my phone and pressed record on the camera. "You're the one that got back here in under twenty minutes and then convinced the two officers that you were with a girl."
"You're a smart woman. Use your brain." He laughed. "Well, I thought you were a smart woman until you stowed away back there and snuck into our house."
"Morgan was making out with me on the backseat and my cellphone fell under the seat. I was just retrieving it. After you beat the shit out of him, I was too scared to say anything, so I just... went along for the ride."
"You were in my room."
"I had to go pee." I knew I could always cut this part out of the recording. "I panicked."
"You weren't panicked enough to not watch me jerk off thinking about you."
I was glad he couldn't see me because I was sure my face was beet red. "Why would you tell me that?"
"You want to know what I was thinking about?" I heard the sound of the blinker and knew we were pulling off the highway and into the area I lived.
"Not particularly." Yes, please tell me.
"I was thinking about that night you were in my dorm room and I had you right where I wanted you. How I would have eaten that sweet pussy of yours until you were screaming for me to give you an orgasm."
I gulped. "And?"
"I also imagined you taking my cock in your hand, just like I was, and letting me come all over those gorgeous tits of yours."
I shifted and squeezed my legs together. Why was I getting turned on by what he was saying? Bad, pussy, bad.
"I could have taken you for myself the other night, but you called the cops before even hearing me out." He made a tsking sound.
I was quiet and did a silent little victory dance in my head that he brought up the break in. I almost had him. "Why did you break into my house?"
The car came to a stop. "The same reason you broke into mine and were in my room."
"I already told you, I didn't break in." The back door swung up. "Thanks for the ride. I guess."
"Enjoy your weekend." He smiled. I was confused. His mood swings were giving me whiplash.
I jumped out of the back after turning off the recording and walked to the side gate. Aiden had my keys in his car and I hadn't even thought about texting him to bring them to me. I had a spare one hidden in the back.
The Maserati backed out of the driveway and it was then I realized the symbol on the front was a trident. They really had a thing for them.
I slipped into the backyard. I needed a hot shower and a giant glass of Sprite.
I lifted the cover to the burner on the barbecue grill and pulled out the spare key. I unlocked the back door and then came to a screeching halt.
No wonder he had oddly told me to have a nice weekend. There was sand everywhere.
Cleaning the sand had taken most of the day Saturday and part of the day on Sunday with the help of Aiden. There was nowhere they could have gotten in unless they had a key. I wouldn't be putting the spare key back outside again.
Sunday afternoon, the sand was gone, but my annoyance wasn't. I had put a message on the community app, asking if anyone had seen a vehicle delivering sand, but got no responses.
That much sand didn't end up in a house without being seen. There was now a pile big enough to make a sandcastle on the back patio. I had spent all the time I should have been searching for my mom ridding the entire downstairs of the pesky granules.
I stood at the door of my mom's room and looked around. She had left it almost too neat. I went to her dresser and looked in each of the drawers. I was glad she hadn't taken all of her clothes, otherwise I'd really be freaking out.
I lifted the mattress to see if anything was hidden between it and the base, but came up with nothing. I laid on the floor and looked under the bed. It was dusty and there were a few lost tissues and a stray hair tie, but nothing else.
I sat against the bed and hugged my knees to my chest. I could have just been blowing everything out of proportion. She was supposed to be back the following afternoon and would find it hilarious that I freaked out for no reason.
Getting to my knees, I opened the nightstand Ivy had looked in. The top drawer had a few romance novels, Antacid, and a flashlight. I flipped through the books and skimmed the dog-eared pages. They were passages about love and fighting for yourself.
I hesitated on opening the bottom drawer. Ivy had freaked out and slammed it shut. I really didn't need to see what was inside, but shut my eyes and pulled it open before I could talk myself out of it.
I cracked open an eye and then sighed in relief. The way Ivy had reacted, I thought there was a massive dildo in the drawer. Sure, there were two different toys, but nothing to be embarrassed about.
They were sitting higher in the drawer than they should have been. There was a hand towel spread out under them, so I pulled it back and shouted in excitement.
There was a plastic box under them. I pulled it out and sat on the bed with it in my lap. My mom was a smart woman hiding something under her sex toys.
I unclasped the sides of the box and pulled the lid off. There was a blue envelope with my name on it and that was it.
My birthday was in a few weeks. Maybe this was where she hid smaller presents and I had just uncovered her secret hiding place.
I opened the blue envelope and pulled out the card. It was just a folded piece of card stock. I opened it and inside was a letter to me.
Ri,
If you're reading this, that means something has happened to me to cause you to go snooping. When you're done reading this, you need to destroy it.
I can't put much in this letter, but know that I love you. Anything I do, it's for you, and you're going to have to trust that my decisions aren't from a place of selfishness.
Over the years I've quietly been stashing away money for you. Just enough where your father wouldn't grow suspicious and come back into our lives. Hidden in one of your favorite things is a list of contacts.
Call the first number and tell him the situation. I love you.
Mom
I'd been right all along, something had happened to my mom.